LATEST HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH REPORT: Syria: Mounting Casualties from Cluster Munitions

• A Soviet-era ShOAB 0.5 submunition, not previously known to have been used in Syria, as seen in a YouTube video uploaded by local activists in Hesih or Hish in Idlib governorate on March 10, 2013/© 2013 Private

• Remnants of a RBK-250/275 AO-1SCh cluster bomb in Deir Jamal from a strike on February 28, 2013/© 2013 Human Rights Watch

Related Materials: 

• Syria: Despite Denials, More Cluster Bomb Attacks
  October, 2012
  Press release
• Syria: Evidence Shows Cluster Bombs Killed Children
  November, 2012
  Press release
• Syria: Army Using New Type of Cluster Munition
  January, 2013
  Press release
   

(New York) – Syrian forces’ use of cluster munitions in residential areas is causing mounting civilian casualties, Human Rights Watch said today. An initial review of available information has identified at least 119 locations across Syria where at least 156 cluster bombs have been used in the past six months.

Human Rights Watch has investigated two cluster bomb attacks in the past two weeks – in Deir Jamal, near Aleppo and Talbiseh, near Homs – that have killed 11 civilians, including 2 women and 5 children, and wounded 27 others.

“Syria is expanding its relentless use of cluster munitions, a banned weapon, and civilians are paying the price with their lives and limbs,” said Steve Goose, director of the Arms division at Human Rights Watch. “The initial toll is only the beginning because cluster munitions often leave unexploded bomblets that kill and maim long afterward.”............... 

FULL ARTICLE:  Syria: Mounting Casualties from Cluster Munitions | Human Rights Watch